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A Few Tips at Keeping Warm this Winter

With Winter upon us, it's a great time to consider some extra steps to enhance your indoor comfort during colder temperatures this season. In addition to a crackling fire and your comfy sweats, examining all doors and windows and adding or replacing weather-stripping are great ways to stay warm.
One of the easiest ways to help insulate your home is placing a "door cozy" at every exterior door. This helps keep drafts to a minimum. The great thing about a door cozy is that you can make it yourself or just buy one online.

Days are getting shorter and nights are getting colder. Fall and especially Winter can make your home feel like its lacking some of that comfort that normally accompanies your home in the warmer months. Bring in some candles (scented or unscented, the world's your oyster) to provide visual warmth. Visual warmth is the idea that while an element in your interior may not provide any significant warmth, the same element may make the room feel warmer in a visual sense. Visual warmth helps make a room feel like a home and less like the waiting room at your dentist's office. Here are just a few examples of pieces that can provide visual warmth: wood furniture, candles, decorating with cloth (table cloths and table runners are great examples).

One of the best ways to keep an even temperature in your home is to have the proper window treatments for your windows. Larger windows and sliding glass doors are the most likely culprits when losing heat during the winter months. Large windows are obvious areas of concern due to their expansive glass, causing heat and cold to emanate into your home and increase/decrease the interior temperature. Many homeowners install double paned windows in an effort to optimize their home's energy efficiency. Double paned windows have several key advantages over standard windows. Among these are better insulation, noise reduction, and ease of cleaning. They can also protect items in the house from sun damage, and they easily slide open and lock closed with no cranking or lifting necessary.

With the exception of aluminum mini blinds, most window coverings will provide some degree of protection from heat/cold. Like most things, there are some window treatments that do a better job than others when it comes to keeping an even temperature in your home. One of the best products to help maintain room temperature are cellular shades, often referred to as Honeycomb shades. Other products to consider are shutters and drapes. All of these stylish, energy efficient window coverings provide the most protection from outside elements when used and installed properly.

Cellular shades are an easy choice for your larger openings as they are lightweight and can cover those really wide windows. With several style options to choose from for insulation effectiveness, there's sure to be a perfect cellular solution for you!

Often overlooked for its amazing insulating properties, shutters are also a great solution. Shutters add warmth through visual texture. In addition, shutters can be made to fit almost any shape, and they're great for decorative windows that are usually placed high and take a beating in the summer and winter. As well as being beautiful, shutters protect your home from extreme outside temperatures and can even increase the value of your home!

Let's not forget about drapes... which offer a beautiful, elegant solution for protecting your home, while also providing potential pops of color, texture, and a certain sophistication to your interior. Drapery can be lined with a few different types of liners, but when you add a heavier liner to your drapes, such as a room darkening liner, you can also increase the insulation, while also enhancing your home. It's a win-win!

By following some, or all of these tips, you won't fight your home in keeping your ideal temperature.

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